


The Space Between

by dramatic owl (snarky_panda)



Category: Mulan (1998)
Genre: Challenge Response, Drama, Established Relationship, F/M, Implied Relationships, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarky_panda/pseuds/dramatic%20owl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wouldn’t forget the past; but she could move forward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Space Between

**Author's Note:**

> Written for two LJ challenges: fic_15, prompt: star-crossed; and 30_memories, prompt: diary. Originally published in 2007 under the pen name lightbird777. Disclaimer: Not mine, just this story.

A wistful sigh escaped her as she lay on her side and stared wide-eyed into the darkness. Her husband’s arm was wound around her waist and she was hesitant to move, lest she wake him, though she wanted to slip out of his grasp and get out of bed.

She cared very much for Shang. Though they began on shaky ground, a relationship based on a lie at its very foundation, their marriage was a perfect arrangement for both families, who were encouraged by several auspicious signs. And day by day their love bloomed and thrived.

But often she remembered the childhood friend, the one who’d become a bitter enemy when the Emperor’s wall went up between their villages. Shan-yu had been like a brother to her at a time when relations with their neighbors to the north were amiable and cooperative. A master horseman like so many of his countrymen, even as a small child, he’d taught Mulan to ride, instructing her on the fine points of horsemanship and the care of horses. She’d never forgotten those lessons.

Things began to change when they reached their pre-teen and early teenage years. While they became closer and their relationship morphed into something beyond mere friendship, the Emperor had become suspicious and paranoid and he ordered that the gaps in the Great Wall, like those near Mulan’s village, be filled in. Imperial troops were dispatched to guard the border between their two villages as well as others along the border. But he always found a way to sneak across to see her. He’d grown into a strapping young man by then, his physique and charms not lost on her.

Then the wall was completed and they were cut off from each other. She never saw him again until that moment in the mountains when she stood in the path of his galloping horse and sharp sword and fired a cannon that would destroy him.

Shang shifted as she exhaled again.

“Mulan? What is it?”

“Nothing,” she sighed distantly. “I’m just having trouble sleeping. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

He kissed the back of her head and she turned over to face him.

“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”

She reached over and stroked his face lovingly. As her fingers drew close to his lips he kissed them tenderly, sending a thrill through her body, and a smile spread across her face.

Things had happened the way they were meant to, she supposed, snuggling close to her husband. It would do no good to wonder about what might have been. She was with a man that she loved deeply now, who returned her love. She wouldn’t forget the past; but she could move forward.


End file.
